Sun Sibei eyes Olympic podium after historic Asian Games BMX gold

China's Sun Sibei has set her sights on reaching the Olympic podium after becoming the first women's BMX freestyle park champion in Asian Games history. She told CGTN Sports Scene's Jiang Mengxi that the victory had given her greater confidence for the challenges to come.

Sun scored 93.80 points to win gold in Aichi-Nagoya on Sunday, as BMX freestyle made its debut as an official medal sport at the continental showpiece. Japan's Miharu Ozawa took silver with 91.20, while Sun's Chinese teammate Sun Jiaqi earned bronze.

The Chinese rider admitted she had gone into the final believing gold was possible, although mistakes in her opening run made the competition more difficult than expected.

"I thought I might be able to win the gold medal, but I didn't expect to make those mistakes in the first round," Sun said. She added that she had planned all the tricks for the final one or two days beforehand and was still thrilled when victory was finally secured.

BMX freestyle combines difficult aerial tricks with control and creativity, with the risk of injury an ever-present concern. Sun said overcoming fear remained one of the biggest challenges she faced when learning new or unfamiliar tricks.

Her background in Chinese martial arts has also proved useful. Sun explained that the flips and rotations she learned before taking up BMX had helped improve her reactions on the bike, particularly when something went wrong in the middle of a trick.

Looking at the development of BMX freestyle across Asia, Sun believes riders in the region already possess the technical ability to execute difficult tricks, but there is still room for improvement in the height of their jumps and in developing more distinctive individual styles.

Having made history at the Asian Games, Sun is already looking towards a bigger target.

"The next step is the Olympic podium," she said. "I'll keep working towards that goal."